Barraging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The continuous and intense act of striking or attacking with various means or forces directed at a target
2. Engaging in a sustained and heavy series of physical strikes or assaults ; persistently overwhelming someone with numerous questions or criticisms in rapid succession
3. Carrying out a nonstop, forceful offensive action involving many hits or impacts ; continuously subjecting someone to an intense stream of inquiries or critiques

Etymology: "Barraging" is the present participle of "barrage," a verb meaning to bombard someone or something with missiles. The noun it comes from was borrowed from French "barrage," meaning a barrier or dam, and the word's earlier French ancestor is "barrière," which is the source of English "barrier." The two words are close relatives that took different routes into English. The French noun "barrage" was adopted into English around 1859 without being adapted to English spelling or pronunciation, so it still looks and sounds French. For its first decades in English it kept its original sense of a barrier or obstruction, such as a dam or a line of obstacles across a river. Its military sense of a concentrated bombardment, a curtain of fire laid down to block an advance, developed later and is the basis for the verb "barrage" and its participle "barraging" that you are asking about.

Synonyms: bombarding, assaulting